Get Out and Don't Look Back
by giverofgrace
Summary: Alex gets back from a long and damaging mission and is stuck in the hospital for a while. One night, someone comes in and hooks him up to a spiked pain killer. Who is this man and who does he work for? Will Alex be in the greatest danger he has yet?
1. Spiked IV

Chapter 1:

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep

Alex was aware of only one thing. The beeping of the heart monitor that he was hooked up to.

His last mission had been particularly rough, and that's why he was in the hospital for going on two weeks. Not that he knew that. The doctors had told him that he had been out for only a couple days. They hadn't told him the number of times his heart had given out and he had almost died.

He had been in a coma for the first week and a half. The first couple days of being in the hospital had been bad. He had been hooked up to almost every machine known to man, and had could not have lived if it weren't for them. Now, it was day 13 and Alex was out of the coma and alert, most of the time. He still needed an oxygen mask to breathe, but he was definitely on the mend. The doctor's had told him that he really didn't need the oxygen anymore, but they were keeping it as a precaution. They would allow him to breathe without it starting tomorrow. Also, he only had two IV's left. One for hydration and one with a pain killer.

In his sleep deprived state, Alex was only aware of the beeping of the heart monitor. The busyness of the hospital kept him awake every day until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. Spies are trained to be light sleepers, and Alex might've been the lightest sleeper of them all. Being a light sleeper and being in the hospital was not a good mix.

Alex tried to close his eyes and block out the noises from the hall, but that did nothing. When he opened them, he noticed a doctor entering the room, and closing the door behind him. If Alex wasn't so sleep deprived, alarms might've flashed in his mind. Doors weren't supposed to be closed in case something went critically wrong. But Alex's mind did not think of this. The doctor seemed surprised to find that Alex was still awake, but didn't hesitate at all.

Alex watched as the doctor switched his pain killer IV with another. Alex found this slightly strange, but his original one had been running low, so his mind just told him that the doctor didn't want to have to come in later.

"There you go," the doctor said after successfully hooking it up. "Couldn't sleep?"

"No," Alex mumbled through the mask. "Too much noise and light." By the end of this sentence, the words were slightly slurred and Alex was fighting to keep his eyes open.

Just as Alex realized it was silly to fight the sleep he had been craving for just moments before and decided to allow himself to slip off, he heard the doctor reply.

"Well, that shouldn't be an issue anymore. I suspect you'll sleep for a long time after this."

The 'doctor' watched as the young boy's eyes closed and as the limbs went limp before turning around and walking out the door.

He left the spiked IV bag behind, still hooked up to the unknowing boy.

'Mission accomplished,' he thought to himself as he changed out of the borrowed scrubs and exited the hospital. 'There'll be a surprise waiting for MI6 and the doctors tomorrow morning when the y go to check on him…'


	2. Death

Chapter 2

"Alan," Mrs. Jones started after walking into said man's office.

"Hmm?" Blunt replied without looking up from the file he was reading.

"We have a slight problem with the situation surrounding Alex Rider."

"Problem? What kind of problem?" Mr. Blunt asked while putting down the file.

"Well, let's see… where should I begin?" Mrs. Jones asked, unsure of herself.

"You know what? Just give me the whole point of your coming in, then we can go back to the details."

"Ok," Mrs. Jones replied and took a deep breath.

"Well, we're not sure who or why exactly, but we have some facts pertaining to the when and how-"

"Mrs. Jones. Please just tell me it. Like I said. We can get back to this later," Mr. Blunt interrupted, slightly annoyed at Mrs. Jones' beating around the bush.

"Alex Rider is dead. He was found dead early this morning."

Sorry for the really really short chapter! I promise to update again tomorrow to make up for it. I am writing the next chapter directly after updating this, and so you will get it tomorrow.

*This is the changed version as I have been told that I somewhat copied someone's idea. *


	3. Thieves of Life

******The chapters should get longer after this, I just needed to establish a few things before getting into them.

Chapter 3

Mr. Blunt froze in his seat. "Dead?"

"Yes," Mrs. Jones replied. "He was found dead early yesterday morning in his hospital bed."

"Natural or murder?"

"We're thinking murder, mainly because when his heart stopped, the heart monitor did not send off the usual alarm to the doctors. Also, we have video footage of a doctor walking into his room and switching out his IV bag that was almost empty for a new one. This doctor was later caught in a janitor's closet taking off the scrubs and hiding them in the janitor's closet before exiting the building."

"So you think that this man spiked the IV?"

"That's the only lead we have to go on."

"Well, if you caught so much of him on surveillance cameras, then why isn't he here already?" Mr. Blunt asked, highly annoyed that his number one agent was killed while at the most secure hospital in all of Europe.

"Well, this man seemed to know exactly where all of the cameras were and, while making it look natural, managed to keep his back to a camera at all times. We have nothing to go on except for hair color and apparent height, but those are changed all too easily."

"So basically we have nothing to go on," Mr. Blunt mused.

"Basically. What do you think we should do?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"I'm thinking we need to have a chat with some of our agents tomorrow. We seem to have a traitor in our midst," Mr. Blunt replied.

"A traitor?"

"Yes, a traitor. How else would someone know where every single one of the cameras was, both visible and hidden? Only our agents know where they are. We have been betrayed."

"Who?" Mrs. Jones wondered.

"I don't know. But I will know by tomorrow night. Call the agents and schedule meetings for them with me. I would like to interview them myself."

"Consider it done. Should I call Agent Daniels and tell him of the news? He and Alex were very close."

"If you must. It really could wait until tomorrow, but... Just call him and tell him the news and schedule an appointment for him early tomorrow morning. I wouldn't guess that he would murder Agent Rider, but one can never be to certain."

Mrs. Jones was about to reply to that statement when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

….

"What?"

…..

"I know what you said! When?"

….

"Same situation as before?"

…

"Thanks for letting me know."

…..

Mrs. Jones snapped her cell phone shut with more force than necessary.

"That was the hospital. Someone broke in and stole Alex's body from the morgue in the late afternoon of yesterday. Once again, professional looking job. Two guys, never showed their face to the cameras. The few cameras they wouldn't have been able to avoid being seen on were switched off before they even entered the hospital. Alex's body is gone without a trace."

For the first time in his career, Alan Blunt sighed and put his head in his hands. This was giving him a headache. Then again, Alex Rider generally did give him a headache.

Mrs. Jones was shocked to see her employer acting in such a manner, but didn't say anything. She just got up and left the room and returned to her office, checking a clock on her way. Once in there, she picked up her phone and dialed Agent Daniel's cell phone number. It was 1 AM, but Mrs. Jones hoped that Ben would be awake to hear the news.

The first thing Alex noticed when he regained consciousness was the soft bed beneath him and the feather pillow under his head.

He was in a warm room, lying on a bed. He attempted at opening his eyes, but a soft cloth was covering them, keeping him from being able to see the room.

At first Alex had thought that he was home in his own bed, but the fact that he had a blindfold on confirmed the fact that he wasn't.

Alex experimented at moving his arms and legs and was glad to find out that he wasn't restrained in any way.

It was then that he noticed that his bed dipped down to one side where a person had been sitting. 'What the heck?' Alex wondered.

He attempted at sitting up, but a gentle (but firm) hand pushed him back down onto the bed. A hand started running its way through his hair, and Alex slowly relaxed into the touch. Sleep threatened to take him over, and Alex allowed it to.

In the distance he heard a phone ring and felt the bed go up as the person stood up, but Alex ignored all of this. He just wanted to sleep.


	4. Inside Job

Chapter 4:

Ben noticed the boy on the bed shifting slightly, and walked over to the bed in which he lay. He sat down and smiled at the boy, though the boy could not see him. Ben was risking a lot by just being here. If the boy recognized him, then he could easily report to the owner of the house about Ben's presence. And if the boy managed to do that, then Ben would be in for a good three hours of yelling. It was better to simply blindfold the boy. His identity would be kept a secret this way.

The boy seemed to notice his presence for the first time, and made as if to sit up. Knowing that the boy would only cause himself more harm than necessary, Ben gently grabbed the boy's shoulder and eased it back into the pillow. He felt the boy tense at his touch, and started running his hand through the blond locks in order to settle him.

Ben remembered several times in the past where this had calmed the boy, and this time was no different. He continued running his hands through the boy's hair, and smiled slightly as the boy unconsciously leaned into the touch. The boy's breathing started to even out, and Ben knew he was almost asleep again. Just as the last of the tenseness went out of the boy's body, Ben's phone rang. He quickly got up and put it on mute, hoping the noise had not woken the boy or any of the house's other occupants.

When he heard no noise for 25 seconds, he quickly unwrapped the blindfold from the boy's eyes and climbed out the window before slipping off into the night.

When he was about 8 blocks away from the house he had just exited, he pulled out the cell phone that had almost brought him to ruin. He had a missed call. From a certain bank located in the center of London. And, if the extension number was anything to go by, this was the phone call he had been dreading to have. And he was definitely no looking forward to having it at 1 AM.

Sighing, Ben dialed said bank's phone number and extension and waited as it rung twice before being picked up by a woman. Without being able to see her, Ben knew exactly what she would be doing. She would be sucking on a peppermint.

"Agent Daniels?" Mrs. Jones asked into the phone.

Ben knew that he would be ruined if he sounded as awake and alert as he actually was and adopted a voice filled with tiredness. He slurred his words slightly, going for the 'I was just rudely awoken at 1 AM and am not fully awake and definitely not alert' tone of voice. With any luck, Mrs. Jones wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Yes? Mrs. Jones?"

"Good. I was hoping that you'd call back quickly."

"What for?" Ben questioned, even though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well, I have something to report, and I thought you might like to hear it right away, Ben."

In his head, Ben snorted. Mrs. Jones always thought that by using an agent's first name, she was magically transmitting comfort and that it helped break the news easier.

"What might that be? It's 1 o'clock in the morning. Couldn't this have waited until the sun actually rose above the horizon?"

"Sorry about the time, but I thought you might like to be informed right away."

Knowing that at this point in the conversation, he would've been finally waking up, Ben let the tiredness start to seep out of his voice, "Um, thanks. But informed of what?"

"Well, there was a slight incident at the hospital late last night. After reviewing the security footage, we have deduced that someone impersonated a doctor and spiked the IV of one of our agents. An agent you know…"

"What? Who? Was it Alex? Is he okay?"

"I'm sorry, Ben. No one found anything suspicious about the man, and we didn't really catch a good look at him. Alex's heart monitor was rigged so that when it flat lined, no alarm went out to the doctors or nurses. They found him dead the next morning."

Ben's hand opened, and the phone clattered to the pavement. He figured two minutes time would be the normal for someone to get over the initial shock, and waited that amount of time before bending down and picking up the phone.

"Agent Daniels? Are you there?"

"Yea, I'm here," this time he adopted a shaky voice.

"Listen, the guy knew where all of the cameras were. Only our agents know where they are located."

"What are you saying?"

"It was an inside job. Someone betrayed Alex."

"That man is going to regret the day he was ever born," Ben responded, lacing his words with an anger he did not feel.

"Please don't do anything rash. Anyways, can you come in later today, around maybe 8? I'm really sorry about this, but Mr. Blunt insists that we interview every single agent, even you. I mean, I know you would've never spiked Alex's IV, but he wants to be reassured. He doesn't find anyone above killing Alex."

'Smart man,' Ben thought, but out loud he said, "That's crazy, but I always knew that man was insane. If it will make him feel better, I'll be there at 8. Bye."

"See you then. And know that I am really sorry about Alex's death."

"Yea, but are you sorry enough?" Ben couldn't resist adding in that last question before cutting the connection. He knew that it did not blow his cover at all, seeing as he would've added it in whether he was acting, or not.

Ben did not put his phone away just yet. Instead he sent off a text message.

_Jones took the bait. They think he's dead. Keep him quiet and in bed._

_I'll be there around noon or so. Blunt thinks he has a traitor in his midst,_

_and wants me to come in to talk to him about my suspicions._

_Good luck with Alex. You're probably going to need it._

Ben did not add the fact that they also wanted to interview him, as then the receiver of the message would not allow him to visit the blond haired boy. Anyways, neither head was actually suspicious of him, they just needed to make sure. Ben was sure they were thinking about the incident with ASH and John Rider.

He sighed, realizing that now he would need to stay up the rest of the night in order to keep his cover at the bank tomorrow. If Alex was actually dead, he would not have gone back to sleep after receiving that information. He would've stayed up the entire night. That was what the heads would expect. And that was what they would get.


	5. Questions and Confusion

A/N: I've gotten a few reviews from people who think that Ben is going to be gay. HINT: BEN IS NOT GAY IN THIS STORY

Chapter 5:

When Alex opened his eyes for the second time, there was no longer a blindfold over his eyes. He was still lying on the same comfortable bed, and he was still not restrained in any way at all. Looking around the room, he found that it was plain tan colored room. Nothing all that special.

There was a note lying on the table next to him on a tray filled with breakfast foods. Unconsciously, Alex reached for the watch on his wrist to check the time before realizing that it was no longer there. He felt confused for a moment before remembering that it was one of Smither's designs and whoever brought him here probably didn't want to have MI6 tracking him.

Reaching slowly over, he carefully grabbed the note off of the tray and opened it.

_Here's some breakfast if you want it._

_Don't get out of bed or do any of your crazy stunts._

_You'll only hurt yourself further-especially since you should be in a hospital right now._

_If we do catch you trying to sneak out or even just getting out of bed,_

_we might just have to attach you to it._

_Around noon, someone will be here to see you._

_He'll explain everything._

Alex sat up slowly, but paused for a minute as his head swam and the edges of his vision went black. Once his vision cleared, he propped himself up against the headboard of the bed. After making himself comfortable, he thought over what the note told him.

'Here's some breakfast if you want it' told Alex that he still had a certain amount of freedom and was free to make his own choices-to a certain extent.

'Don't get out of bed or do any of your crazy stunts' told him that whoever this was either knew him or had lots of insider information on him. Alex really hoped it was the former.

'You'll only hurt yourself further' informed him that whoever this was knew about all of his injuries and cared about him a little bit at least. After all, what crazy villain would kidnap him and then tell him to be careful for fear of hurting himself further? Most of the time they jumped at the chance of him being injured and caused further injuries. Unless, of course, this was someone like Sarov **(A/N: If this isn't they guy's name from Skeleton Key, sorry. I'm too lazy to look it up)** had been.

'Since you should be in a hospital right now' reminded Alex that he had been in the hospital for a week already with extensive injuries and had only been conscious for 2 days before this…kidnapping happened. This also meant that something big was going on in the background. For a moment, Alex considered the idea that maybe this was all MI6's doing and that someone had tried to kill him and so he was brought out of the hospital. He discarded that idea almost immediately. MI6 didn't care about him at all, and if someone had tried to kill him while he was in the hospital, (and MI6 cared of course) then someone would be in the room with him.

The next line informed Alex that whoever was behind all of this, there was more than one of them. Otherwise the author wouldn't have written 'we'. It also told him that the people behind this were reluctant to take any negative action against Alex. Perhaps they were scared of what his reaction would be if he found himself handcuffed to the bed? But just because they were reluctant didn't mean that they weren't against restraining him. He'd have to be careful about that.

The 'around noon' line really didn't mean anything to Alex. There was no clock in the room, and so he didn't know if it was morning or afternoon, let alone the time. The one window in the room told him that it was, in fact, daytime.

The last line was the line Alex was banking on. He was really confused in this situation, and it seemed as though someone was willing to explain things a little bit. Alex couldn't wait until noon so that he could get some answers and figure out whether these were the good guys or the bad guys.

Alex sat there for a minute after putting the note back down on the green tray, trying to decide whether he should make a run for it, or hang out and see how everything played out.

His stomach grumbled hungrily, and Alex decided that he had enough time to at least eat some food before making his choice.

He quickly ate a slice of French Toast before he even considered the idea that someone might've drugged his food. After that thought entered his mind, his stomach decided it wasn't hungry anymore, and Alex chose not to chance the fact that it might be drugged and knock him out for any amount of time.

Alex shoved the covers aside, and noticed for the first time that someone had changed him out of his hospital gown and into a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of comfortable gray sweatpants. He was grateful for this fact, but still felt the need to figure out what the heck was going on.

He swung his feet around so that they touched the floor, and was about to push himself off of the bed and stand up when he noticed the camera for the first time. It was sitting on a mount in the corner of the room, the telltale red light blinking to show that it was watching him. Suddenly, Alex remembered the note, and decided that he would rather just stay in bed for a little while longer verses possibly angering his captors.

He settled himself back in the bed, and lay down once more. He was going to just lay there quietly and wait for this mysterious man to show up. Ten minutes after he did so, he felt his eyelids drooping and could not resist the urge to sleep once more.

He just hoped he would not be punished for his little stunt earlier of almost leaving. But somehow he doubted that they would just forget about it. And he was right.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Ben took a deep breath and entered the Royal and General. He wanted to have this interrogation done and over with before Alex tried anything or got himself killed. Which was very likely.

The receptionist recognized him immediately and called the elevator for him. He nodded his thanks and rode it up to where Mrs. Jones' office was located.

Knocking on her door, he found that Mr. Blunt was present too. Not that this was any surprise. While Ben was not under any suspicion at all, he was still the number one person on the list of suspects. If this situation had happened 20 years prior, this would not have been the case. But ever since that incident with John Rider and ASH, MI6 decided that even the closest of friends were not always innocent.

"Morning, Ben," Mrs. Jones said with a tight smile. "I hope you realize that we are very sorry about the loss of Alex Rider. He was a good agent."

Ben regarded the two of them coldly, "You do realize that if you had just left him alone and then possibly hired him when he became a legal adult, he would still be here today."

"Not necessarily, Agent Daniels," Blunt refuted. "Remember the little issue with Scorpia when Alex was 14? Invisibly Sword? Or maybe even those Stormbreaker computers? It is highly likely that Alex would've died anyways."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with," Ben responded.

"Sure thing, Daniels," Mrs. Jones had now crossed the line from attempting at being conciliatory, but had not yet reached the heartless MI6 deputy head stage. "You do realize that we're going to have to hook you up to a lie detector, right? I mean, that's the only way this is going to work, and after what happened with John Rider 15 years ago, well…"

"I understand," Ben responded. He knew this was what was going to happen. He just hoped that with his lack of sleep he was still able to remember all of his tricks on how to beat the machine.

"Great. First question: Where were you 2 nights ago?"

"I was with K-Unit at my flat. They had a couple of days leave and we spent some time catching up."

"And how long did you stay with them?"

"Well, we talked until about 1 AM, and then I allowed them to stay over, seeing how it was really late. They slept on the floor in the living room. All in all, I think I was with them until maybe 1:30, 1:45 ish."

"What time did they arrive?"

"Around dinner time. Sometime between 5 and 6:30."

Briefly Mrs. Jones checked her computer screen. She was relieved to see that Ben had not lied so far.

And so the questioning continued. Not once did the machine pick up on any of the lies that Ben spewed out, and within about 3 hours, he was let out. They had done a very thorough job questioning him, as he was the one person (other than the heads) in MI6 to have the complete information in detail about Alex Rider.

As he walked out of the office, he breathed a silent thank you to Alex. A year prior, Alex had decided the need to teach Ben everything that he had learned from that short time with Scorpia. One of those things having been how to beat a lie detector.

The drive to the house was a relatively short one. He reached the house at about 11:40. Knocking on the door, he was surprised to hear hurried footsteps rushing to the door before the door was yanked open, and Ben was dragged in.

Ben looked at the man with a questioning gaze.

"Get upstairs, NOW!"

Knowing that Alex was in one of the upstairs rooms, Ben assumed the worst and sprinted up the stairs. Another man met him at the top. "Get in his room right now. He's having a nightmare and we can't wake him up. He's going to seriously hurt himself with all of the trashing he's doing."

Ben burst into the plain room and rushed to the bed. The two men who had been frantically trying to wake up the boy stood back, relieved to see that Ben had arrived and could hopefully help the boy.

Alex was thrashing around and Ben winced. He would be in some pain when he woke up.


	6. Nightmaric Disasters

Chapter 6:

"_Get upstairs, NOW!"_

_Knowing that Alex was in one of the upstairs rooms, Ben assumed the worst and sprinted up the stairs. Another man met him at the top. "Get in his room right now. He's having a nightmare and we can't wake him up. He's going to seriously hurt himself with all of the trashing he's doing." _

_Ben burst into the plain room and rushed to the bed. The two men who had been frantically trying to wake up the boy stood back, relieved to see that Ben had arrived and could hopefully help the boy. _

_Alex was thrashing around and Ben winced. He would be in some pain when he woke up._

Thinking quickly as to what had helped in the past, Ben rushed across the room to the bed and sat down beside the boy. He grabbed Alex's right wrist with one hand and ran his other hand through the boy's hair. Ben hoped that the combined wrist and hair thing would work more efficiently. This was the worst nightmare he remembered Alex ever having, and was pretty worried that it wouldn't work.

The running his hand through Alex's hair was what Ben normally used to calm the boy down from a nightmare, and the wrist being held was something that Ben had used in the time before Alex decided to tell him about his missions. Alex had started getting flashbacks due to him suppressing his memories, and Ben wrapping his hand around Alex's right wrist had helped the boy get a grip on what was reality every time.

But neither seemed to be working. If anything, Alex seemed to thrash around more and more. Trying a new tactic, Ben sat the boy up so that his back was resting against Ben's chest. Ben then wrapped his one arm around the boy, holding him close, while still running his hand through the blonde locks.

But still, Alex did not calm down from his nightmare. Granted, his thrashing was somewhat less, but that was only because Ben was holding his arms tightly against his side, which limited the amount of movement that Alex could make.

"Heron?" Ben asked one of the men in the room. "Can you go find Snake and get him to find a sedative? This is the worst nightmare Alex has ever had, and I'm not sure whether I'm going to be able to calm him down."

Heron nodded wordlessly and left the room. Ben's eyes followed him out, but snapped back down to the teen once he felt the struggles lessening. A look of relief paced across his face as he realized that Alex was calming down finally and slowly waking up from the nightmare.

A few moments later, Snake and Heron briskly walked through the door, the latter holding a syringe in his hand. Relief spread across both soldier's faces as they saw a limp teen who was slowly waking up lying against Ben instead of a thrashing one.

"That must have been one hell of a nightmare," Heron commented to no one in particular.

"I'm sure it was for him to be that violent," Snake agreed.

Ben frowned, "I've never known him to have such a bad nightmare. I'm going to have to talk to him sometime about it. Anyways, Heron, do you think you can look him over? I mean, he was on the mend and all, but can you check to make sure he didn't do any serious damage to himself?"

"Sure thing. And I think it might be a good idea if I knock him out anyways. For one, Cub's probably not going to like having someone look him over, and I'm sure he's in a lot of pain right about now. Not to mention the fact that it'll get him to fully calm down."

"Sure. If you think it will help Alex, by all means do it," Ben replied.

Snake crossed the room and stuck the needle in Alex's arm just as his eyes fluttered open.

It took Alex's mind a minute to realize that someone had just pumped an unknown substance into his body, and he jerked with panic as he felt his strength draining out of his body. Ben immediately tightened his grip around Alex.

"Alex. Relax. It's ok. You're ok. Stop freaking out. It's going to fine," Ben quietly told the teen, trying to sooth him as they waited for the drug to take full effect.

The teen immediately stopped struggling. "Ben?" Came the faint and slurred reply.

"I'm here. Relax," Ben said with a small smile. There was no vocal response to this statement, as Alex finally succumbed to the drug and fell limp in Ben's arms. As gently as possible, Ben stood up and laid the teen back against the pillow, brushing the hair away from Alex's face as he did so.

Ben straightened up and walked toward the door, "Come on, Heron and Eagle. We should leave Snake to his work. You know how he gets when one of us gets hurt, let alone Cub."

Eagle smiled and followed Ben's lead, "Awww! The mother-snake can't bear to see his little Cubby hurt!"

Snake turned to glare at Eagle as he pulled the covers down from over Alex's limp form. He opened his mouth to reply when Ben beat him to it, "Mother-snake? What the heck is a mother-snake?"

"Well, it's supposed to be a mother hen, but Snake's a snake, so it fits better then 'hen'. You have to admit, he is a little overprotective."

Heron grinned, "Too true. I've only been with your unit for less than 2 years, and even I know that we should be getting out of here and leaving Snake alone."

Snake sent them one last glare before putting his full attention back on Cub.

The three men laughed quietly to themselves and started walking down the hall. Snake's voice followed them out, "And don't think I won't be remembering this conversation the next time one of you guys gets hurt!"

Ben laughed as the other two soldiers exchanged worried glances.

"And don't think you're excluded from that sentence, Fox!" Snake called out. "But don't worry. I'll only chain you to the bed until you're fully healed. The other two might find themselves having a few extra injuries, though."

A minute later found Fox, Heron, and Eagle entering the living room that was currently being occupied by a pacing Wolf.

When he heard their approach, he immediately started firing questions at them, "How is he? Is he ok? Did you get him out of his nightmare? Did he injure himself?"

The questions would've kept flowing but Ben held up a hand to get him to shut up. "If you stop asking questions, I could think about answering them."

"And another thing, Wolf," Eagle added. "When did you start caring about little Cubby so much? From what I remember, you hate them to the depths of your being."

Wolf's voice suddenly got really gruff and Ben had to hide a smile, "I just want to make sure that the brat won't be causing more trouble than he's worth."

"To answer your questions," Ben interrupted. "Alex is sleeping-ish peacefully. We got him out of his nightmare, though I must admit that this is the worst he's had."

"What do you mean 'sleeping-ish'?" Wolf asked with narrowed eyes.

"I mean that we got him to calm down and wake up, but Snake thought it would be better to just go with Plan B and knock him out. Now he really is resting peacefully and Snake can make sure he didn't damage himself with all of that thrashing while not having to deal with Alex complaining and resisting medical attention, as he usually does."

"Oh."

There was a small moment of silence, which was broken by Wolf.

"You know, Fox, he's going to be alright."

"You think so?" For the first time in two years, K-Unit could actually read Ben's emotions and could see every ounce of worry reflected in the man's eyes.

"I know so. After all, he is the mighty Alex Rider, right?"


	7. Possibilities

Chapter 7:

It was fifteen minutes later when Snake finally came downstairs. Ben was the first to jump up, "Is he ok?"

Snake nodded, "Yea. He was in the hospital for long enough that his body has had a chance to heal itself for the most part. None of his stitches tore out, and he really didn't do any lasting damage from what I can see."

Ben's face flooded with relief, "Good. I'm glad. But I'm seriously going to have to talk to him about locking away his memories. He has two options now. He either talks to one of us, or he talks to a therapist."

Wolf nodded, "That's a good idea. Better talk it out with someone than relive it all in your sleep."

Eagle turned to Heron, "I'm serious. I'm actually starting to think that Wolf is going soft in his old age. He actually cares about Cub! This may have just revolutionized the world!"

Wolf glared at Eagle, "Just shut up. And I'm not old. You're basically calling yourself old, seeing how you're only 3 months younger than me."

Eagle looked indignant, "I am most certainly NOT old!"

"Then neither am I."

Snake cleared his throat, "Cub should wake up in about fifteen minutes. One of us should be up there when he does to give him some pain medication. He may not have damaged himself, but he's aggravated some of his wounds and will probably be in a load of pain."

Ben opened his mouth to volunteer, but Snake cut him off, knowing what he was about to say, "Why doesn't Heron go up. He can tell us when Cub wakes up. Meanwhile, Fox, we can have a conversation about Cub's injuries and how exactly they affect your original plan, ok?"

Fox and Heron nodded. Heron disappeared upstairs, and Fox followed Snake to a side room, leaving Eagle and Wolf together in the living room. Eagle shrugged, jumped on the couch and started watching TV. Wolf walked out of the room and got himself a drink from the kitchen before taking a seat on the stairs.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Even through all of the pain that he was feeling, Alex could still tell he's been drugged. He didn't remember when that was or how exactly he'd been drugged, but he felt the effects of it running through his system as he woke up.

The pain reminded him of what state he was in and he knew there was no point in trying to escape or fight back. Therefore, there was no need to pretend to still be out because there was no way that could give him an advantage.

He remembered the note that he had read earlier, and wondered whether the guy had shown up to explain things or not. Something in the back of Alex's mind was telling him that the man was actually Ben, but he wasn't sure if that was real or wishful thinking.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in that same room that he had woken up in before. Except for this time there was a man sitting in a chair on the one side of the room. He looked up as Alex shifted on the bed and stood up. Without saying a word to Alex, he walked out of the room. His footsteps were heard on the staircase, and Alex figured he was going to go find someone. It was then that the man's face clicked in Alex's mind, and he realized that it was Heron, the fourth member of K-Unit. With this knowledge Alex allowed himself to relax. He had worked with K-Unit a lot and had come to fully trusting them.

When he looked back at the door, he saw Wolf standing there. Wolf smiled at Alex. "Hey, kiddo. Good to see you awake and ok. You gave us quite a scare with that nightmare of yours."

Alex couldn't remember having a nightmare, but he figured it was possible. He had had nightmares before that he didn't remember having, most of the time because Ben had gotten him to calm down without waking him up. Maybe that's why he figured Ben was here? Maybe Ben had got him out of the nightmare?

"Hi, Wolf. Long time no see. How've you been?"

"A lot better than you, I see," Wolf responded. "Do you want some pain medication? Snake said you'd be in a lot of pain when you woke up."

Alex nodded, "Yea, that'd be nice. So what exactly happened?"

Wolf talked while getting the pill for Alex, "Well, after we kidnapped you-don't ask. Ben will tell you when he gets up here. Anyways, you woke up, read our note, and ignored the little part about staying in bed for your own good. Not that we didn't expect that, hence the camera in the corner. Which is why your ankle is now handcuffed to the bed. Anyways, so then you went back to sleep. A little while later, Eagle, who was on Cub watch at the time, raced to find us saying that you were having a really bad nightmare. The four of us came in here and tried to wake you up but we couldn't. Then Ben showed up and also tried to wake you. Which took about ten minutes in of itself. Snake had the brilliant idea to drug you anyways (which had been our plan B) so that you'd calm all the way down and he could give you a look over to make sure no damage had been done. And here you are."

There was a moment of silence before Alex responded, "You didn't have to drug me."

Wolf smiled at this comment, "Focused on the important things, are we? But in answer to your question, no we didn't have to drug you. But we did anyways. So just deal with it." All of this was said in a joking manner.

Alex opened his mouth but heard light footsteps on the stairs. "Ben's coming."

Wolf immediately got a scowl on his face, "Here's your pill, brat. Try not to choke. There's no way I'm doing the Heimlich Maneuver on you."

Alex hid back a smile. When they were alone together, Wolf was like an overprotective big brother. But if anyone else decided to show up, then it was back to mean bully Wolf. Wolf had a reputation to keep after all.

Ben's face appeared in the doorway just then, "Hi Alex. How're you doing?"

"I'm doing fine. Why do you ask?"

Ben snorted, "Fine my foot. You are most certainly not 'fine' so stop acting like you are. Can't you just tell the truth for once?"

Alex smiled innocently, "And where would the fun be in that?"

Ben looked at Wolf, "I give up on that boy."

Wolf hid a smile, "Obviously not. Anyways, I'll leave you two to talk. Ben has some things he'd like to discuss with you, Cub." With that, Wolf walked out of the room.

Ben turned to Alex, "He's quite the character, isn't he?"

Alex raised his eyebrows, "Is he?"

"Yes, he is. I mean, the way he acts when it's just the two of you verses the way he acts when other people are around. Makes you wonder why exactly he does it. I mean, he's slipped up about 5 times in the past 20 minutes already, not counting when I was standing on the stairs listening to your conversation."

"But it's not like it's a bad thing, being under the protection of Wolf, is it?"

Ben nodded his head as if acknowledging the point, "That's true. It comes in handy quite often. Anyways, there's something we need to discuss."

"The reason behind my kidnapping from the hospital? Wolf said you'd explain things to me."

"Yes. Well, K-Unit and I kidnapped you from the hospital mainly to get you away from MI6. They were going to use you again, Alex."

"So what's new with that?"

"They were going to have you discharged early from the hospital to send you on a mission. A mission that they couldn't have sent anyone else on because it would apparently be to dangerous for anyone other than you. Seriously, how messed up is MI6?"

"Pretty messed up, but I already knew that. Anyways, so what was the point of kidnapping me? MI6 is just going to track me down and find me and then send me on the mission anyways."

Ben's gaze dropped from Alex's, "Well, we didn't just kidnap you. We faked your death."

"So MI6 thinks I'm dead?"

"Yea. To the world, Alex Rider died and his body was later stolen. No one know who was behind this and no one's going to find out." Ben held his breath, waiting to see what Alex's reaction was going to be.

"Thanks, Ben. I mean, spying's in my blood and all, but some of those missions weren't that great. I'm glad that that's behind me now. Though, I might pick up intelligence work once more when I legally become an adult and actually exist/have rights."

"So you're not mad?"

"No, Ben. But what happens now?"

Ben hesitated, "Well, I was kind of thinking that maybe you could start a new life in America or someplace like that."

"Alone?" Alex didn't really like that part of the idea, but the rest of it sounded ok. He wasn't quite sure about leaving everything behind.

"Well, I was kind of thinking that maybe I could convince Blunt to let me transfer me to another country on the excuse that it's just to hard to work at the place where you worked before your 'death'. Then maybe I could live with you as your guardian or something until you become an adult?" Ben seemed really unsure of how Alex would react to that last part.

Alex looked at Ben, "So basically you and me run away to a country and start a new life with me living with you?"

"Well, yea. I mean, you sleep on my couch every night anyways, so it wouldn't be that different. What do you say?"


	8. A New Beginning?

Chapter 8:

K-Unit sat downstairs in the living room waiting for the fireworks to happen. Of course, not literal fireworks, but everyone knew how Cub could get when he was manipulated/used-especially without his knowledge.

They were slightly surprised when no explosions happened from the second floor. All four of them sighed- partly in relief and partly in annoyance that they didn't know what Cub would choose.

It was a couple of hours later when Ben walked down the stairs with a blank expression on his face.

"Stupid spies!" Eagle shouted when he spotted Fox. "You can never tell what's going on with them! What is with spies and not letting any emotion go into their faces?"

"Calm down, Eagle," Snake stated, annoyed. "It's needed in their line of work so just get over it and deal with it."

"Well, maybe I don't want to. Ever think of that?" Eagle asked defensively.

Heron watched the two with an amused expression on his face, "Ahh. I love this unit. Never a dull moment."

Wolf was the only focused on the original topic, "So, Fox. What did Cub choose?"

"Well…" Fox started, but paused when Snake and Eagle suddenly stopped mid fight. In a comical tangle of limbs.

"Ignore the less mature half of my unit," Wolf stated.

"Oookkk….Anyways, so I told Alex about my plan and stuff, and…well…"

"COME ON!" Heron burst out. "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY! Honestly! Do spies not know how to give a three word response? What is with their stupid alludingness!"

Four pairs of eyes blinked at him.

"Alludingness? Never-mind. Forget I said anything. I don't want to know," Wolf turned back to Fox. "Like I said before. Ignore the immature THREE QUARTERS of my unit."

Ben smiled, "Gladly. So I told Alex about what happened, what MI6 was going to force him to do, and how we counter acted it. And about how I snuck in and spiked his IV, and about Wolf and Heron stealing his 'body'. And about what my new plan was. And all of that stuff."

"And?" Heron asked, eager to get to the point of the story.

"And…Alex said….oh, look at the time! I really must be going if I am to pick up the pizza I ordered!"

Ben was able to hide his smile by turning around and walking to the door. He sidestepped just as he heard the tell-tale signs of someone lunging at him. Eagle and Heron ended up knocking into each other on their way down, giving both of them bruises.

"Fox," Wolf growled. "If don't you think for one moment that I won't hesitate to do cruel and unusual torture on you if you leave, then you are sadly mistaken."

Ben slowly turned around, "Alright. Fine. But seriously, Wolf, way to ruin my fun."

Wolf shrugged, "Too bad. Now start talking."

"Fine. Alex agreed. You guys happy?" Fox stated nonchalantly.

Cheering erupted from Eagle who was still sprawled out on the floor.

Snake's brow furrowed in confusion, "So then why were you up there for so long?"

Ben's smile got even wider (if it was even possible), "Alex decided to tell me something about himself. I think we may have finally gotten rid of the nightmares."

This time, Heron joined Eagle with the cheering.

Wolf just looked at them and sighed, "They have way too much energy."

"Send them to pick up my pizza," Ben replied.

"What are you going to do?" Snake wondered.

"I have a phone call to make," Ben replied. "And Alex wanted to be able to hear it….I just hope he manages to keep himself from laughing."

A minute later, Eagle and Heron were on their way to pick up celebratory pizza and Wolf and Snake were climbing the stairs.

As they neared the top, they heard Fox's voice.

"Yes, hello. Royal and General Bank? Can you please put Mr. Blunt on the line? There's a small matter we need to discuss…"


	9. Worst Nightmare

Chapter 9:

No one gave the pair a second glance as they stepped off the plane. Just another two faces in the sea of billions. Those who did notice them just assumed them to be a typical Father and Son going on holiday in the US. Which was, for once, practically correct.

Ben and Alex made their way through passport control without a hitch, claimed their luggage, and got into their rented car.

"So….Dad. That was some conversation with Blunt," Alex said once they had gotten onto the highway.

Ben inwardly smiled at the word (DAD), and snorted, "That it sure was. I almost think that Blunt was relieved that he was getting off with just a transferal on my part."

"Yea, I wonder why though? Perhaps could he have been trying to get rid of you all along, but didn't want to damage your fragile state of mind?"

"Oh be quiet, John," Ben refuted (A/N: It would be too suspicious if Ben left the country and suddenly adopted a kid named Alex. MI6 would get too suspicious, so they changed Alex's name to John, and made him older than he actually is). "It was probably more along the lines of 'I am so relieved that Agent Daniels is not going to go to the press with this information and destroy me'.

"Or 'I am so glad to get rid of that Agent Daniels. He thinks he's great at his job, but he really sucks at it. Let America deal with him from now on. No more bad spies here!' And also, you do know that denial is not just a river in Egypt."

"John. I do not have mental health issues. I think maybe you do though, so I'm going to spell this out to you nice and slowly. Bad spies = dead spies. And since I am not dead yet, that therefore makes me a great spy!" Ben knew that he wasn't actually outstanding at his job, but he had only failed 3 out of 13 missions, and that wasn't too bad.

"Key word there being 'yet'," Alex pointed out.

"Oh shut up," Ben replied.

Alex gave a dramatic gasp, "You kindergarten cursed! You are such a bad influence on me! Whatever will the children at school think of me when I repeat that!"

Ben glared, "I know you've heard worse."

"So?"

Ben just turned and watched the road intently.

"So you start your job on Tuesday?" Alex asked, changing the subject.

"Yup. I have a meeting with Mr. Byrne at 9 AM."

"Well, I can tell you one thing. You're going to like that man a LOT better than Blunt."

"So I've heard," Ben replied.

"And one more thing…"

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

It was 9:02 AM on Tuesday morning, and Ben found himself sitting across from the head of CIA. They were both studying each other intently, trying to figure out the other person.

It was Ben who first broke the silence, "I have a message to pass along from my adopted son."

Mr. Byrne raised an eyebrow, "Really? And who might this boy's name be?"

"He says hi and thanks," Ben replied, repeating what Alex had told him two days earlier.

"His name?" Mr. Byrne asked once more, confused on what boy could possibly know him.

"John. John Daniels," Ben allowed a smile to creep over his face. "Formerly known as Alex Rider."

To the untrained eye, Byrne had no reaction whatsoever. To a trained eye, like Ben's, the only proof that Byrne was shocked was the slight widening of his eyes.

Then the shock disappeared, replaced by a grin, "The luck of the devil indeed. So he's not actually dead? This is a story I gotta hear."

"Well…" Ben began.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

"How was your first day of school, John?" Ben asked as the boy walked through the front door that night.

"It was fine, Dad," came the short reply.

"Nope," Ben immediately responded. "I don't care what teenagers do these days, I am getting a longer answer than that."

A sigh was heard, before John stepped into the kitchen, "You really want to know?"

"Yup."

"Fine. But first, you have to tell me about your day."

"Alex-"

"Whose Alex? The only two people I see here are John and Ben."

"John-"

"Nope. Nothing doing. You tell me, I tell you. It's a win-win situation for everyone."

Ben sighed once more and wondered what he had been thinking when he adopted a teenage spy. It was the worst nightmare you could image. A spy, with all of the trickery and cunningness, mixed with a teenager, with the sarcasm and lack of communication. The worst nightmare indeed.


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue:

_2.5 Years Later_

The man's phone rang in his pocket, disturbing the silent air of his office. He sighed and put his pen down on the report he was going over. He really needed to get that report done with. He had procrastinated looking over it for two days now. But he still welcomed the interruption of it. Paperwork was not the funnest thing in the world.

But he was not even able to answer the phone in peace. A knock sounded on his door just as he was reaching for the phone.

"Come in," he called. He had no clue as to who would be on the other side of that door, and as head of the CIA, it might be important to figure that out first.

The door opened, admitting Ben Daniels into the room. Mr. Byrne smiled. Agent Daniels was his highest ranking agent, and the current father of one John Daniels, AKA Alex Rider.

"Have a seat, Ben. I'll be with you right after I answer this blasted cell phone," Byrne instructed.

"Of course," Ben nodded in agreement. Though, Ben knew who was calling, and he had a feeling Mr. Byrne was not going think so poorly of his cell phone in a minute.

"Byrne here," Mr. Byrne said into the phone.

"Put me on speaker phone," the voice instructed him. "I know Ben's in your office. He said he wanted to listen in."

Mr. Byrne looked curiously at Ben who simply nodded at him.

"Who is this?" Mr. Byrne asked after putting the phone on speaker and placing it on his long forgotten paperwork.

"Oh…just a guy looking for work. I hear the spying industry has great insurance and I decided to look into it. I mean, my skills might be a little bit rusty after two and a half years and all, but that's why I sent Ben in. To give me a good recommendation."

"Alex?" Mr. Byrne asked, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Yup. I was wondering if you had a job available for me. I'm done with school now-at least as far as I want to go. And it's not like I dislike the intelligence department-just the blackmailing part- and I know that won't happen from you. Plus I hear that you could use a new top agent. I hear he's really old and totally incompetent at his job. Rumor has it that he's even taken advice from a teenager in the past. I mean, who would want a wacko like that working for them?"

Ben pulled a face, "Ha. Ha. Very funny. So you've finally ran out of original ideas for jokes?"

Mr. Byrne and Alex ignored Ben.

"Alex. For you, there's always a spot open in the CIA. There has been ever since I first met you. And anyways, we wouldn't want these old agents to get too big of an ego boost. How long do you think it will be before you claim the title from your dad?"

Alex pretended to think it over, "Ohh…I don't know. Three missions tops. After all, he still is using advice given to him by a teenager."

Mr. Byrne laughed, "Even if that teenager was MI6's top agent and a secret lethal weapon."

"Exactly. Oh, and I'm also thinking about calling up Blunt sometime…you know, just to see how he reacts to his dead lethal weapon being alive and the CIA's top agent."

Ben and Byrne laughed, "That should be an interesting conversation. Why don't you call him from my office. Then we can all laugh together."

Ben smiled, "Yes. This is not a conversation I want to miss."

A/N: That's all there is, folks. The end. There isn't anything more. End of the story. Sorry. You can make you own predictions on how Blunt reacts. Hope you enjoyed it!

Check out my other stories:

'Death Cuts Sharper than Knives'

'Caught in the Act' (ON HOLD UNTIL MARCH 12. SEQUAL TO 'Death Cuts Sharper than Knives')

'Soldiers on Babysitting Duty'


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